Council voted 3-1 on the new agreement, which expires on Sept. 30, 2018, the end of the municipal fiscal year. Vice Mayor Martin Sullivan voted against it, and councilmen Jon Albert did not attend the meeting.

Council also approved a 30 percent pay raise for City Clerk Nicole McDowell to $52,000 a year from $40,000 previously.

The council on Aug. 22 removed the $10,610 payment to the Citrus Connection from its 2017-18 budget by a 3-2 vote with Sullivan, Albert and Councilman Austin Gravley supporting the move.

The three councilmen argued at the time that very few Frostproof residents used the bus service, and that the money could be spent better elsewhere.

The Connection’s board of directors had not previously required Frostproof and other cities to subsidize the bus service, Phillips said in August, but it has decided to ask cities with service to contribute 20 percent of the cost by the 2019-20 budget year.

Frostproof’s contribution is scheduled to rise to $21,221 in 2018-19 and $31,864 the following year under that plan.

Gravley asked for reconsidering the deal after several people approached him in opposition to the August vote, he told council. He was willing to support the bus service after the Connection implemented a new smartcard, a debit card that can be used instead of cash, Gravley said. The smartcard will also allow the Lakeland-based Connection to track who rides on the buses based on the user’s address.

Gravley said his August vote was based on his perception that not many Frostproof residents use the bus service, but that he was willing to see what the smartcard numbers reveal about local ridership.

“My thing is I want to see the numbers,” he said. “That’s what I’ll base my future decision on – the numbers from the smart card.”

Phillips said the current deal would cover only the service during the city’s 2017-18 fiscal year and that future years, including Frostproof’s contribution, would be negotiable.

The vote came after two local residents who depended on the Connection bus service spoke out against the August decision.

“Things are pretty bad when you don’t have a car or a bus and you’re retired,” said Phyllis Byrd. “You sit at home and watch four walls.”

Byrd and Shirley Furbee, who also spoke, said they were forced to beg people with cars for transportation. Consequently they can’t do normal living tasks, such as grocery shopping or going to a mall, independently.

“You’ve taken away my life,” Furbee said. “Now what I do – just like Phyllis said – is sit at home and watch a wall.”

Gravley and Phillips urged local riders to get a smartcard to let Frostproof officials know they use the bus.

For people concerned about sharing information with a government agency, they can buy a smart card under a false name as long as they report their actual Frostproof address, Phillips said.

The card costs $2 to buy initially, he added, but users get credit toward bus fare.

During the discussion, Gravley said he was willing to support the new agreement even though he was “small government guy.”

City Manager Lee Evett asked for McDowell’s salary increase in a memo to council. He said it would put her in line with five other Polk cities of comparable size.

The memo contained a chart showing city clerk salary levels in those five communities ranged from $56,216 a year in Davenport, with a 2015 population of 3,786 residents, to $69,911 in Mulberry with 3,775 residents. Frostproof’s 2015 population was 3,004 people.

The raise also reflects a reward for McDowell’s initiative to get certification through the Florida Association of City Clerks, Evett said.

She completed the three-year program on Oct. 19, McDowell told The Ledger.

McDowell is the only city clerk among the six Polk communities of comparable size to hold the certification, Evett said.

Evett had recommended a raise to $49,920 a year with a provision for $55,000 on her fifth anniversary with Frostproof in two years.

Councilman Ralph Waters recommended the raise to $52,000 with the possibility for the fifth year increase. Council voted 3-0 on that proposal.

Sullivan had to leave the meeting during the discussion to take care of a family matter. He told The Ledger after the meeting he would have supported Waters’ proposal.

McDowell started with the city on April 20, 2015, as a finance assistant. She was promoted to city clerk the following June 29.

“I’m very thankful,” she said after the meeting.

Kevin Bouffard can be reached at kevin.bouffard@theledger.com or at 863-401-6980.

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